Against elections : the case for democracy / David Van Reybrouck ; introduction by Kofi Annan ; translated by Liz Waters.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 179-191) and index.

The crisis of democracy / Kofi Annan -- Enthusiasm and mistrust: the paradox of democracy -- Crisis of legitimacy: support is crumbling -- Crisis of efficiency: declining vigour -- It's the fault of politicians: the diagnosis of populism -- It's the fault of democracy: the diagnosis of the technocracy -- It's the fault of representative democracy: the diagnosis of direct democracy -- It's the fault of electoral-representative democracy: a new diagnosis -- A democratic procedure: drawing lots (antiquity and renaissance) -- An aristocratic procedure: elections (eighteenth century) -- The democratisation of elections: a bogus process (nineteenth and twentieth centuries) -- The revival of sortition: deliberative democracy (late twentieth century) -- Democratic innovation in practice: an international quest (2004-2013) -- Democratic innovation in the future: allotted assemblies -- Blueprint for a democracy based on sortition -- Timely appeal for a bi-representative system.

an Reybrouck makes the argument that modern democracy was designed as much to preserve the rights of the powerful and keep the masses in line, as to give the populace a voice. As change-agent, Against Elections makes the argument that there are forms of government, what he terms sortitive or deliberative democracy, that are beginning to be practiced around the world, and can be the remedy we seek. In Iceland, for example, deliberative democracy was used to write the new constitution. A group of people were chosen by lot, educated in the subject at hand, and then were able to decide what was best, arguably, far better than politicians would have.